Should I replace my Router

I have been pondering on replacing my Router. I have the Netgear RT314. Its about 4 years old now. It works but I'm wondering if I would get better performance meaning faster speeds if I replaced it with a newer one. Seems when I plug direct into my modem I see a good deal of speed difference. I have the most up to date firmware on the Router. I'm not sure if the Router just finally starts to loose its ability to function at its fullest after so many years. Its a 10/100.

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I can't imagine the router being a bottleneck, it's something I've never seen. I'd suspect that the speed difference may be something as simple as the MTU size in the router configuration set incorrectly.

There is nothing that "degrades" over time in something like a router, it's as fast now as the day you got it.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm not to knowledgeable When it comes to the specs on the Routers. But I had noticed that the wireless ones come in different herz so I thought that maybe the newer wired ones had changed.

I see they have some that say the WAN is 100 and the Lan 10. Not sure what mine is besides 10/100. It is all confusing to me and I just like to learn.

The wireless ones have been upgraded through the years, but that only affects the wireless connections. I've never seen a router that was in the least bit taxed keeping up with even the fastest broadband connection. I have a somewhat aging D-Link DI-614+ still as my main router, and it's able to sustain my seemingly upgraded Comcast connection, I'm getting a speed from www.dslreports.com - 2005-08-20 20:47:51 EST: 5435 / 338

My old router is able to punch in at 5.5mbit, so it's not that tired yet.

I had a D-Link 614+ that got killed by a lightning strike. I now have a later generation D-Link.

It will be a long time before any router becomes a bottleneck. All of them can do the 100 Mb/sec that the typical LAN does, and they don't have any significant delays through them to the WAN side, and all WAN connections are substantially slower than 100 Mb/sec.